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Long time lurker, never before posted. The previous PI ferret thread was instrumental in my decision to get ferrets, then badger my husband into agreement. No regrets! (Some context: we had rats before, so ferrets are a step up in the cruel tragedy of unexpected pet death world). We now have three ferrets. Tristan and Isolde are both about a year old. Tristan is a big stupid doof that likes climbing up on things and breaking things of sentimental value. Isolde is small and cunning. She enjoys naps in the pile of plastic grocery bags under the sink and filling my shoes with reclaimed kibble and pens. I love those little assholes. Artemis is a recent addition, having come to us from the SPCA rescue barn in our town in the last month. A friend of mine who works at the SPCA told me about the poor creature - she had been abandoned in a trailer with two cats but had recovered well under their care and was just getting her medical clearance to go up for adoption. We went out to "meet her" (reality: fall madly in love after one look and take her home as soon as we could get the paperwork signed) and the poor thing was stashed in a back corner all by herself with a couple of bunnies for neighbors. BUNNIES! After bringing her home, she was a little lethargic, her coat was a little crispy from the cheap food they had been feeding her, and she was more than a little confused by the rambunctious nature of the aforementioned terrible twosome. She has settled in amazingly well, though. She romps through the house playing chasey-face, her coat is sooooo flooofy and soft and has gained so much weight that she's now about as heavy as the boy fert. She's about 2 years old, which means that she has slowed down enough that if you pick her up while she's sleeping, you can get some primo cuddle time out of her (as opposed to the other two who go into crazy-play mode immediately upon attaining consciousness). My husband appreciates that, as he was really looking for a creature to sit on his lap and chill out while he works on his PhD dissertation. Below you can see them doing the ferret version of the "how many frat boys in a phone booth" trick. Bottom left is Tristan, bottom right is Isolde, and top is Artemis. I assume their heads are sticking out because their stinky butts take up all of the room in the house. 
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Nov 11, 2014 16:50
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Does anyone here know much about angora ferrets? We are starting to wonder if Artemis may be at least part angora due to her impressive floof and large size. She's about the same size as our boy ferret, and possibly a little heavier. I made my husband hold Artemis and Isolde together so we could compare, but they decided to play bitey face instead. Fraction posted:
Thank you! I'm still not sure how they all smashed themselves in there.
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Nov 21, 2014 03:33
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I think Artemis might be an alcoholic. Also, a co-worker called her Artichoke today. 
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Nov 30, 2014 02:54
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I use recycled newspaper pellet litter. The ferrets use the floor in the corner by the door next to the litter box. To each his own.
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Dec 14, 2014 04:16
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Cless Alvein posted:Yeah the ferrets have their preferred corner to poop in. I'd love to put a litter box there but it the door to my bathroom soo I kinda can't open the door then. Oh well I clean up a little poop sometimes or I don't notice it and the dog gets to it first. (ew) Sometimes our roomba gets to it before we do 
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Dec 16, 2014 00:48
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We have a big bag of paper under the bed that our fluffs enjoy too! What else do you guys do? I'm always looking for more enrichment for them. We've also got a hamper of old pillows and sheets in the closet, large pvc pipes running behind stuff, etc. And lots of cat toys, some of which they stole from their cat friend they stayed with over Xmas.
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Mar 8, 2015 05:18
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With the weather warming up, I'm looking to take my ferts outside (on harness or supervised in a play pen). Are there any flea and tick preventatives that are appropriate for ferrets? I'm tempted to use the kitten formulation, but I'm not sure what the risks are with toxicity. For what it's worth, I'm in Upstate NY, where the wildlife and their associated parasites abound.
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Apr 17, 2015 20:12
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Maully Millions posted:With the weather warming up, I'm looking to take my ferts outside (on harness or supervised in a play pen). Are there any flea and tick preventatives that are appropriate for ferrets? I'm tempted to use the kitten formulation, but I'm not sure what the risks are with toxicity. Bump!
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Apr 28, 2015 20:38
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Plek posted:I don't know what actually applies to NY state, but in Texas there were 3 big things ferrets had to have to be outside. 1) Heartworm meds. See a vet, get liquid drops, not store bought stuff. 2) See a vet for flea stuff. Supposedly off the shelf cat stuff works but I wouldn't risk it, and we got ours from a vet. 3) distemper vax. They should already have this, because you can apparently track that in on your shoes. Thanks! They've all three had their distemper shots, so we're good on #3. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and see one of the baby vets at the vet hospital (they're generally really quite good, but not always as knowledgeable about specific exotics). Soylent Yellow posted:For anyone keeping ferrets, I'd advise ping-pong balls. Ferrets love them. Imagine a super-light, super-bouncy indestructible egg that is just too big for them to get their teeth around. Eventually they'll manage to catch it in a corner and destroy it, but this generally takes hours. Give it a try. I gave mine easter eggs or pill bottles with beans in them, and they nosed all of them into a pile in the closet in like, 5 minutes. Ping pong to the rescue! Also, I want to second what Compact Fanny said about the Marshall Monopoly. In the two years since we first decided to get ferrets, I've only heard of two coming up at our local SPCA (where I have an insider who lets me know when they get one), and both of them originally came from Marshall anyway. The nearest breeder is several hours away from us, and may or may not still be actively breeding ferrets of unknown quality. The independent ferret market is pretty grim.
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Apr 29, 2015 00:35
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My tiny girl ferret has recently become a little chunky. This may be due to the fact that a friend of mine passed on some Bandits after her ferret buddy died and ferrets are greedy little fuckers that are super adorable when they beg treats off of you by piling all over one another in an effort to use their cage mates as a furry ladder into the treat-giver's lap. Sorry, guys. Someone has to be the grown up. You're going back on your diet. The crappy treats may be delicious, but there's a reason I feed you the expensive grain-free cat food and freeze dried meat treats.
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May 7, 2015 04:53
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Cless Alvein - I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Two at one is especially tragic. In an effort to cheer up the thread a little bit, have a mildly amusing anecdote and unrelated picture. I was recently caught searching on "ferret weight gain" by one of our IT guys at work. I expected to be chastised, but instead he asked if I had a fat ferret. When I said yes, his response was "Maybe she has to poop. Giver her some fiber." This has turned into us accusing her of having to poop whenever she waddles around and telling her we're going to give her pumpkin. (I'm pretty sure its just that she's finishing filling out as she's about a year and a half old and had always been on the slender side of slinky) Right now we're visiting family on the opposite coast, and my friend the ferret sitter sent us this pic, titled "Attack Ferrets".  Artemis v. Tristan in the fight to end all fights. I think Tristan might be winning.
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May 27, 2015 06:15
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Suspect Bucket posted:Sooo, how did they take that photo if their hands are full of frt? Her girlfriend was managing the pit fight while she documented the horror.
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May 28, 2015 05:32
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YeehawMcKickass posted:Oh yeah, she tried to jump in the shower with me yesterday. She gots to get that delicious people soup!
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May 30, 2015 02:02
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Serella posted:Water that is not from the bowl is the best water. Unattended cups, splashes on the floor, bath water... Especially that glass on the nightstand with less than a quarter inch of water in it, which somehow turns into a giant splash zone on my side of the bed once its overturned. Every goddamn time I forget about it. Also, I've been thinking about cyborg petsitting, and I'm pretty sure it wont catch on with ferrets because they would steal the charger cord or any other necessary accessories. They're just too dangerous to the mission.
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May 31, 2015 00:09
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Marxalot posted:I did what the topic said. I got them to stop biting me (nibbling is fine) after about 2 days, and day 3 they didn't have a single non-litterbox turdpile to clean up. I think I just stumbled on a really good pair of catsnakes. CATSNEKS YAY! Your pics may have made me squeak out loud. Welcome to the club! What are their names?
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Jun 12, 2015 03:20
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Marxalot posted:The one on the left was pretty bony when I got him, and they both had really wiry hair. From the way he's laying, he doesn't have any bones 
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Jun 17, 2015 22:52
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I recently learned that ALL FERRETS ARE SHOW FERRETS! This is courtesy of the American Ferret Association. Apparently, they even have a class or title or something for shelter ferrets, which makes me all mushy inside. Of course, I'm now obsessed with the idea of showing the girls. Tristan, much as I love him, is just like... standard petshop rear end in a top hat ferret. Isolde, however, is so so pretty. And Artemis is this gorgeous silver fluff. Has anyone participated in ferret shows? I will probably not ever actually do it (starting grad school next week... who needs free time?), but fantasizing about all the ribbons my girls would win is kind of nice.
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Aug 21, 2015 01:44
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Show quality ferret for Xiahou Dun: Sorry, that's the most recent pic of Artemis I have. I'll try to get some better ones for you!
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Aug 21, 2015 03:51
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Do the ferret nation cages have a trap door attachment? We're currently introducing a baby fert and have his sequestered on the bottom half of our two decker. To keep the levels separate, I rotated the plastic pan to cover the access hole, but I'd like to let Little Dude into the big kids section when the fat rear end in a top hat isn't in there.
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Sep 17, 2015 18:29
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peengers posted:Yeah they do. Do you happen to have a link handy? I've been all through their website and can't seem to find anything.  Thanks!
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Sep 22, 2015 18:42
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Marxalot posted:
Is that one of those fancy self patching tires? ETA: peengers posted:
Thanks, peengers! I actually have this model and somehow completely missed the locking hook thingy for the last two years...
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Oct 11, 2015 02:14
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Good luck Bella! Now stop licking your wound, you shameful creature!
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Oct 29, 2015 18:33
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DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:Yeah, her insides were put inside and then the doc replaced his sutures and put a layer of adhesive over, all free of charge. She is a Dumb Animal but she's no longer a partially-inverted Dumb Animal, and she has lots of energy. Hates being stuck in Sick Ferret Jail, though. So how is your dumb sick animal doing? Are her insides still inside? Please post a picture to prove her continued existence. In other news, every time I go to PetSmartCo I am asked either if I'm getting a kitten or a puppy. When I say no, I have three ferrets that happen to eat super high quality expensive grain-free cat food (none of that Marshall's crap for my furbabies!) and play with stupid cat toys that hurt when you step on them in the dark, and no, this giant bowl isn't for a dog its because those ferrets I mentioned have decided that snorkeling is the best and end up dumping most of their water out before they can drink it and I decided to upgrade to an Olympic size ferret pool for them. The response is inevitably, "Awwww, I want ferrets!" I then spend the next five minutes explaining descenting, how they smell like stale Fritos, and they get so excited when they see you and how much I love them even though they're assholes, every single one of them. Basically, I'm a walking advertisement for Stockholm Syndrome and it always takes way longer to buy their overpriced meat bits and special poop pellets, but gosh darned if it isn't worth it.
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Nov 8, 2015 03:22
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I was never able to find a vest harness small enough to fit my littlest girl. Even tiny kitten harnesses were too big on the smallest cinching. If your Blade is super little, the rat one might work better. The ferret and guinea pig ones fit my chunky kids ok.
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Dec 8, 2015 03:32
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Sigi has decided that he MUST be within touching distance of my feet whenever I'm standing or walking around, most preferably between my feet as to maximize the potential for tripping or punting him across the floor. What the gently caress, Sig. One of these days, one or both of us is going to die and it'll be YOUR FAULT.
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Feb 17, 2016 20:30
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Yes, unless they're trying to kiss you with their teeth.
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Mar 12, 2016 20:01
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The ferrets may have killed a vole while I was taking a nap. There's blood. No body. Wtf. ETA: A vole just sauntered by, completely unharmed. Zombie vole? Son of Vole, here to take vengeance upon his father's killers? WHAT IS HAPPENING? Maully Millions fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Apr 10, 2016 |
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Apr 9, 2016 23:57
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I could watch this forever. :3
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Apr 18, 2016 02:01
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peengers posted:Current ferret status: contemplating making GBS threads on your hand and then ripping your face off. Bath hat ferret or all ferrets everywhere? Also, stupid things my ferrets have eaten (or tried to eat) this week: At least 1 vole earbuds (cached the squishy bits, chewed the hard plastic bits) my wallet anything Sigi manages to get to fall in his mouth while he's dooking around usb cord my soul
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Apr 19, 2016 01:06
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My husband and I are planning on adopting a cat in August. We've been bickering about what age would be best to adopt so as to socialize with the ferrets - kitten with malleable social brain (husband's vote) or 2yr+ and tested with other animals (my vote). We have three ferrets right now. Artemis, 3 yrs old, used to live happily with cats before we adopted her. Tristan, 2 yrs old, best friend is cat. Siegfried, ~9mos, has not met cats but is pretty good with weird/new situations. Do you guys have any advice or anecdotes to share about introducing catte to fert? (xposting to cat megathread)
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May 10, 2016 01:26
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One of our ferts thinks she's a cat, so that would actually work perfectly. :3 Do you have any cat-ferret love pictures?
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May 14, 2016 02:23
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Plek posted:None of the adult cats that have been around our ferrets ever treated them like prey; the cats all hated or were scared of them though. Fraction posted:My prey driven dogs (jrt and bc) were scared of my ferrets, especially when India figured she could leap at the edge of the couch they were hiding on to nip at them. Unless you unfortunately "luck" out on getting a super prey driven cat I don't think they would parse an adult ferret as prey. I appreciate the reassurance! I'm not really concerned about the cats thinking the ferrets are prey. Ferts can look after themselves. After all, they recently tag teamed a vole murder... Husband and I have entered into negotiations regarding two kittens. I'm so excited!
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May 16, 2016 19:30
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nmx posted:Quinn again, with his late best friend Wade: Awwwwww buddies 4evver Here is one of my ferts, Artemis, helping my husband with his dissertation.  and here is Artemis taking a well deserved nap  This is Siegfried, overseeing the destruction and chaos he created at wtf o'clock in the morning  And the wee babby Kriemhild, before she turned into a literal hitler (she's now about 8 months old and we often call her Kremlin but this doesn't seem to deter her misbehavior)  Not shown is Tristan, who is too cool for school photos. Post more ferrets, please!
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Mar 13, 2017 02:53
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It is now spring in Upstate New York, and my ferrets are simultaneously blowing their coats and (apparently) snorting all the blow available in the Southern Tier. Even Artemis, who is usually a gentle bit of fluffy love snuggles, has gotten the Spring Crazies. She pounced and play-bit my husband yesterday, which is like being slapped in the face by a freshly bloomed pansy. She then immediately turned around, war danced to the cd rack, and bit that for the apparent sin of existing. She is usually so chill and zen about everything, its hilarious to see her getting wound up, chasing the young 'uns, and in general being the menace to society that all good, healthy ferrets should be. The other day, I took Sigi with me to campus for all of my fellow stressed-out grad students to cuddle. I had actually planned on taking Artemis (sorry for playing favorites, guys) but Sigi literally leapt out of the cage and into my arms that morning. With a can-do attitude like that, how could I have refused? Well, he walked on his harness in his usual distracted manner, fell asleep on my lap during a particularly contentious Graduate Student Senate meeting, decided he wanted my friend Jess to be his mommy, and in general charmed the pants off of everyone. He also seemed to have figured out that if he points himself in the direction I'm walking, he can run continuously, at full tilt, for the entire length of the hallway. There's nothing as funny as a poofy ferret on a harness running as fast as he can and dooking his head off - it was the highlight of my day. Usually when I take one of them to campus with me, they crash out hard when we get home. Sigi somehow managed to find the energy to play chasey-bitey face with everyone else during outside time, and even outlasted them. I'm pretty sure he has a stash of Adderall somewhere. What are the stupid things your ferrets are doing now that its Spring in the Northern Hemisphere?
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May 5, 2017 20:31
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Kommando posted:Oh boy I want a ferret now. Don't do it. You'll never get your reputation as a normal person back again. (Do it. Then post pictures. Get two, like kittens!) DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:precious is real old now and our kitten Molly harasses her, but I haven't heard any ferret hissing or yowling or seen any bottle brushing so I think she's ok. One time Molly started in on her while she was sleeping so precious just bit down on her face and wouldn't let go, then Molly ran off in defeat. The kitten definitely has her on weight and reach but she's a gigantic dumbass whereas precious has the warrior spirit from bossing around two other furts for years Old ferrets are the best. Precious is the bestest.
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May 6, 2017 06:38
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Grumbletron 4000 posted:I love tube cats. But never date a girl that owns one. They're weird. Like good weird but not good girlfriends. Fool me twice and all that. Thanks for generalizing anectodal experience to the entire population while also letting us ferret-owning girls know not to date you!  Here is Tristan cuddling with me, a good-weird bad girlfriend girl with no chances of getting into Grumbletron 4000's pants!
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May 11, 2017 19:45
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I'm about 3/4 of the way through a trip away from home for training, and I miss my ferrets so much. My husband has not been doing his due diligence in sending me photos. Please take pity on me and post pics of your own little assholes.
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Aug 14, 2017 23:21
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Top Quark posted:This isn't a pic of my ferrets or anything but I recently made a motivational fert site on learning a certain domain is available, so feel free to enter: OH MY HECK, this is amazing! Thank you!
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Aug 15, 2017 01:50
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